One-year-old in his cot was nearly killed by a falling tree in Co Galway

A family has spoken of their relief of escaping unhurt after a terrifying tornado tore through a country town, killing livestock and ripping headstones from cemeteries.

Noel and Mary Kelly escaped with their four children unhurt from the mobile home in Clonfert after a tree crashed through their temporary mobile home.

"We were having our dinner,” said Noel.

“At the time I had no idea the wind was as bad as it was and then the tree came down. We heard the awful bang and then the noise.

“The child was in the playpen right next to it. There were bits of the tree inside and you could see through the roof, he could have been killed,” said Noel about one-year old Adam.

"We just got everyone out as quick as we could. The mobile home is destroyed but it's a miracle we weren't killed. Mary got a horrid shock altogether and the kids were frightened alright but everyone is okay," he added.

Residents whose houses were caught in the middle of the freak storm on Wednesday night said it’s a miracle no one was killed.

And weather chiefs issued an “orange” warning as torrential rain battered the country.

The mini tornado caused most damage in Clonfert, Co Galway, after it came in off the River Shannon at around 6.30pm.

The storm quickly travelled up through a bog before hitting houses and farm buildings and spinning away towards Co Roscommon, where it ran out of steam.

Witnesses added the storm lasted just two or three minutes but caused thousands of euro worth of damage.

Around 700 houses lost electricity and on Wednesday ESB crews were busy restoring power to the last remaining homes, including some in Banagher, Co Offaly.

Considerable damage was caused to the historic graveyard beside Clonfert Cathedral and a mobile home was hit by a falling tree.

Farmer Brendan Coughlan, from the town, revealed his sons Brendan, 16, and eight-year-old Jack were caught up in the storm but escaped uninjured after the older brother got Jack to lie on the ground.

He said: “It was a huge mass of black cloud and rain carrying debris with it up into the sky. It came down through the fields. It came down by a neighbour’s house and hit our house smack on.

“Debris was flying everywhere – roofs, bits of trees and branches and feeding troughs. Anything that could move was thrown up in the air.

“It just sliced through the wood here at the back of my house and cleared everything in its path.

“It raced through the graveyard and knocked headstones out of the ground. Crosses which were there for a few hundred years were broken or pulled out.”